fandomtownies | The Perkolater

The Perkolater - Saturday Morning

Veronica enters the shop, orders a chai latte and takes a seat at a small table near the back where it should be a little quieter. She gets out a tablet and a couple of pens (including her favorite that she found in the commons room the other night before her chat with Angelus) and watches for the new teacher to arrive.

[ooc: Veronica & Tara's thread is locked and Not for broadcast as its an interview for the paper, but others can feel free to utilize this post]

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Tara arrives about ten minutes later, ordering peppermint tea (which she gets, though the server seems quite taken aback at the request), and scans across the few patrons there to find the reporter she is supposed to meet. Noticing a woman sitting by herself, she crosses to Veronica's table. "Um, Veronica? I'm Tara Maclay?"

Veronica stands and smiles.

"Hi, Professor, I'm Veronica Mars. Nice to meet you." She holds out her hand to shake.

Tara takes her hand, but shakes her head. "You don't have to call me Professor, we're not in class. It's just Tara."

"Okay, Tara," Veronica says. "Please have a seat. I promise this won't take long. I just need to ask you a few things so we can include a profile on you in this week's paper."

After both women are seated, Veronica picks up a pen.

"We'll start off with an easy one," she says with a smile. "What brings you to Fandom High?"

[ooc: fyi - i'm not a buffy fan so i know just about nothing about your character]

Tara laughs. "Actually, that's probably the most complicated question you're going to ask me, and I don't want all of the details printed. Is that okay? Or should I only say things I'm happy for you to print?"

[ooc: thanks for the warning!]

Veronica considers this.

"Let's consider this portion of the meeting completely on the record, meaning that anything you tell me I can print. After the interview, if you'd like to chat off the record, meaning I can't use the info, we can."

"Alright." Tara cocks her head, mentally editing. "I've been sent to Fandom High by the organisation I work for, in order to conduct a research study into the nature of good and evil, and the factors that trigger a person into chosing one or the other."

Veronica pauses to let Tara's words sink in before asking her next question.

"Have you worked as a teacher before?"

"Never," Tara shakes her head. "Yesterday was my first class."

"How did it go?"

"Better than I hoped for! I was very, very proud of my students. I few of them had troubles opening up, or seeing outside their own perspective, but most of them confronted difficult ethical situations honestly. They challenged each other to examine the reasons for their choices, and used compassion and humour to help classmates analyse their own perspectives.

The issues we were confronting were emotionally distressing to some students, who I will be following up on in the next few days. It's an inevitable concern of an ethics class, but I will be following up with those students privately to address any concerns."

"So how did you end up teaching Ethics and," Veronica checks her notes, "philosophy, right?"

"Right," Tara confirms. "The Ethics part is obvious. It's my field of speciality - you could say I've been studying it all my life, and that class is really my baby. The philosophy class is to provide an option for students who'd like to consider things intellectually, rather than emotionally. The job placement itself, though, was arranged by my organisation - I just got assigned here."

"So what did you do before coming to Fandom High?"

Tara winces. "I actually pretty much fresh from university, but technically I'm a... consultant. For a..." she pauses, tightening her lips as she thinks. "For a community service organisation."

"Okay."

She senses that Tara's not exactly comfortable with this line of questionning.

"So, how about you tell me something about you? What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?"

[ooc: *cough* Willow]

[ooc: *snicker*]

"Um. I'm a Wicca - a witch? A lot of my spare time is research. Demons, spells, that sort of thing. I like strawberry milkshakes, and I don't drink coffee. I like talking to people, and hearing their stories. When I've had a bad day I eat my dessert before my dinner."

She stops. "Is this the sort of thing you meant, or am I just being silly?"

Veronica smiles.

"No, that's absolutely perfect. Though, I'm not sure how readily I'd admit to that not drinking coffee thing. A lot of people around here take their coffee very seriously."

She considers her next question and hopes she's not overstepping her bounds.

"You're a witch? By birth/bloodlines or by practice? I don't know a lot about how that all works, but I think it's fascinating."

Tara nods, grinning. "Coffee's like a religion around here. And both, actually. My mom was a really powerful Wicca, and I learned it from her. I'm actually much better on the theory than I am on the practice - I don't have a lot of power."

[ooc: Wiccan, not Wicca! Curses to Joss-is-God for making me say Wicca! Wait while I go wash out my mouth.]

"Coffee is definitly a religion around here," Veronica grins. "And I think that about wraps up the official interview." She glances through her notes. "I'll call you if I end up needing clarification on anything, but I think I have enough."

She finishes her chai latte.

"I'm going to grab another drink, would you like one?"

"Hot chocolate?" Tara asks, smiling back at Veronica. "And that was surprisingly painless."

Veronica goes to the counter and orders the drinks.

She hands Tara her hot chocolate and sits down to sip her second chai latte.

"So how are you enjoying Fandom High and the town so far?"

"I can't get over her nice everyone is. Well, the Dean's a little scary, and Principal Connor is downright terrifying, but everyone I've met has been so lovely to me." One side of Tara's face lifts into a smile. "Even the ones who say they're evil."

Veronica chuckles. "The Dean and Principal Connor are a little intense, but who can blame them, being in charge of a bunch of hormonal teenagers, half of whom are firearms experts and at least a quarter of whom aren't even technically human." She shakes her head. "And we won't even get into the number of dead people around this place."

[ooc: fyi - V was slightly traumatized to run into her dead best friend Lilly. Shortly after that, she hung out with Kawalsky and found he was technically dead. Most recently she chatted with Angelus and learned that he was dead... well undead, but still. I read on your info page that Tara is technically dead, so she can have fun tormenting V some more if you like!]

"The not technically human is actually normal for me, but the dead people..." Tara shakes her head in surprise. "There are others? Not vampires, but... people? Who died and ended up here?"

Veronica narrows her eyes. "Others? Well, I've met a few. My best friend, Lilly Kane, was murdered about two years ago. After I found out who really killed her, her soul was freed and she ended up enrolled here." She hesitates, she promised not to tell anyone about Kawalsky. "And there is at least one other that I know off, but I promised to keep it to myself."

"Wow," Tara murmured. "I should go find Lilly and compare notes." She turns a wry smile on Veronica. "I'm afraid I'm dead too. Technically. In the having died part. And then come here."

Veronica has no idea how to respond to this.

How do I end up chatting with all the dead people? Do I have some sort of latent psychic ability? Or are they just drawn to my sparkling personality? she wonders.

"I, um, could give you Lilly's number if you want," she finally offers weakly.

"That'd be great. Or, um, could you mention me to her? I don't really want to call someone up out of the blue and ask if they want to compare death stories with me. It might sound... weird?" She wrinkles her nose, and then notices Veronica's expression. "But, um, other than a funky scar to show off at parties I'm pretty normal. Heartbeat and everything. Are you... okay with that?"

"Yeah, it threw me when I first ran into Lilly, but I've gotten used it to now. And I'll definitely mention you to Lilly next time I see her."

She smiles reassuringly.

"I, um, suppose the whole technically dead thing is off the record?"

Tara smiles disarmingly at Veronica. "Well, it's not the coming out conversation I'm using to having, you know? And I don't want it to be the only way people think of me. But it's not a secret, or anything. You can use it if you want to."

Veronica nods and scratches a few notes on her tablet.

"Thanks, for trusting me with that," she says.

"Just don't say 'Dead Woman Returns from Hell to Corrupt School Youth', and we're fine. Um, not that I went to Hell. I was just thinking if you were a tabloid-type writer that'd make it sound bad. Because I wasn't. In hell." Tara dropped her face for a moment, wincing as her brain caught up with her mouth.

Veronica is suddenly very serious.

"Don't worry. I know what it's like to be portrayed incorrectly by the media and I will be one hundred percent fair and truthful."

Tara nods, inclined to believe Veronica in the light of her reaction. "Thank you. I really appreciate that."

Veronica glances at her watch.

"Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me, Tara. But I have some other obligations to attend to. I'll see you around."

She puts her tablet and pens back in her bag and stands up to leave.

[ooc: mun has to go - plans for the day - thanks for your prompt response. also, am totally thinking about enrolling V in ethics now - are there still spots in the monday class?]

Tara stands, and smiles at Veronica. "You're very welcome. Give me a call if there's anything else you need."

[ooc: yup, no limit on numbers. Happy to have her. Warning: class is confrontational, and one student is already thinking of pulling out because she can't deal with it.]

"I will!"

Veronica leaves.

[ooc: i know - i was reading class for one of my other chars (allie_cameron) and thinking that it would be greatly amusing to place V in that situation!]

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The Perkolater - Saturday Morning

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